Gas separation system



Aug. 3, 1943.

H. R. LEGATSKI GAS SEPARATION SYSTEM Filed March 5 .1941

LEASE STORAGE TANK IS 21.2`| E .l a. E

:f l 1;-31 4 ,m DRY GAS 27 l \2l 24 HIGH RATIO GAS-OIL INVENTOR H. R. LEGATSKI Patented Aug. 3, 1943- GAS SEPARATION SYSTEM Harold RfLegatski, Bartlesville, Okla., assigner to Phillips Petroleum Company, a corporation of Delaware Application March s, 1941, serial No. 381,563 1 Claim. (c1. 18s-114.5)

This invention relates to theff separation 'of the more volatile components from' a uid mixture and more particularly, it relates to a process for increasing the separation or recovery from crude oils of normally gaseous components and the lighter liquid components ordinarily known as natural gasoline.

This invention is particularly adaptable to the removal from crude oil of the hydrocarbons normally contained in natural gasoline and polymerization feed'stocks. By application of my process substantially all of the propane and butanes, and a large part of the pentanes and some higher boiling hydrocarbons are removed from crude oils thereby presenting a marked in-` crease in the removal of these relatively low boiling constituents over .the removal by conventional methods. ,z-i"

In the production of crude oil', the uid produced from an oil well comprises oil associated with varying amounts of gas,'.' In common oil field practices, the gas is separated from the oil in separators If there is only `a -,relatively small amount of gas, it may be vente'cllirom the sepator to the atmosphere and lost igor the gas may not be separated from the oil at the well, in which case, the iuid can be conductejiijrby pipeline or other means to a central separator system in l which the gas is separated fromjthe oil. In systems such as these, the amount of gas evolved from the uid is controlled by `the separator or trap pressure. As is known, tha-lower the separator operating pressure, the greater will be the evolution of the dissolved gase'xf The giving oi or ashing of the dissolved gasesiis accompanied by the vaporization of other hydrocarbons which are normally liquid. In a eld from which sufcient gas containing vapors -',o'i easily condensable hydrocarbons yis produced it is often economical to install natural gasoline extraction plants and by their operation produce the socalled natural gasoline. Theseffplants may be of y.the conventional compression-'type, absorption type, r a combination of tliese.

Natural. gases carry various airiounts'of condensable hydrocarbons or naturaigasoline. Frequently, gas evolved from a .wellfluld containing only a relatively small amount for gas, will be quite rich in hydrocarbon condensables. And conversely, a gas evolved from a 'ivell fluid which contains large amounts of gas,vvill usually be comparatively lean with regard tothe amount of condensables. These rich gases the leaner gases, if these latter contain ,'suflicient vcondensables, are frequently stripped'E of their natural gasoline content. It has been found desirable to attempt todevise methods to increase the yield of natural gasoline from well gases. One method of increasing this yield is to increase the efliciency of the recovery processA and a second method is to process wetter gases. 'Ihis rst alternative is limited by the amount of con'- densable hydrocarbons in the gas while the seco nd alternative is less restricted. In the disclosure that follows, I describe in detail a proc# ess for increasing Vthe amount ofl condensable hydrocarbons in a natural gas, thereby increas ing the possible recovery and output of natural gasoline. In any process in which gas, or as it may be called, stripper gas ory dry gas, is

contacted with aliquid petroleum hydrocarbonA mixture for stripping purposes, it is obvious to those skilled in the art, that the .lowest boiling constitutents are first removed. It is desirable to so treat petroleum crude oils for the more nearly complete removal of the light volatile ends in order to reduce subsequent evaporation losses during storage and transit of the crude oil. In additionthe removed hydrocarbons, or natural gasoline as frequently termed, contain materials used in the manufacture of polymerized gasoline, and the increased recovery of polymerization feed stocks is anitem of importance.

An object of this invention is to furnish a method for the extraction and recovery from crude oils of condensable hydrocarbons called natural gasoline.

Another object of this invention is to furnish a method for increasing the recovery of natural gasoline from crude oils over present methods.

Still another object of this invention isfto furnish a process for the more nearly complete removal of the light, volatile ends from a crude oil and convert them into the form of a wet gas suitable as charge stock f or a natural gasoline extraction plant.

Other objects and advantages will be apparent` y to those skilled in the art from a careful study of the following description.

The gure illustrates one embodiment of my invention.

Referring to the iigure, I, 2, 3 and 4 refer to gas-oil traps or separators, lines 5, 6, 1 and 8.4

from the bottom of said tower to trunk crude oil line Il and thence to lease storage tank I8.A

Valve 3| may be closed or open depending upon whether stripper tower I is in operation or not. 29 and 30 are valves in the crude oil lines I3 and 26 respectively.

Gas outlet lines from the top of the several separators are manifolded to the gas gathering line I9, and this line in turn discharges into the trunk or main wet gas line 25 which ordinarily transfers said wet gas to a gasoline extraction plant not shown. 28 is a valve in gas line from trap 4. Pressure controller valve 24 in gasline e 2l controls the pressure of dry gas from 'trap 4.

. many instances, the low gas-oil ratio wells produce relatively small quantities of gas as wet gas, and the high gas-oil ratio Wells produce large quantities of essentially dry gas.

For the 'operation of my process in which appreciably large quantities of dry gas are required, the source of the dry gas is immaterial. The gas may originate directly from producing wells or it maybe residue gas from a gasoline` extraction' plant.

In the operation of my process, crude oil from the several field traps, for example, traps I, 2, 3 and 4 in the figure, is manifolded into a main line, as line I3, and finally discharged into the upper part of a conventional stripping tower, as stripper I5. The oil flows downward in said stripper and countercurrent to a stream of relatively dry gas. The dry gas upon intimate contact with the downward flowing crude oil removes o r strips from the oil low boiling hydrocarbons. This gas, which now contains low boiling easily condensable hydrocarbons formerly in the crude oil has become a wet gas, and it may be led from the stripper tower I5 through lines 22 and 23 to a gasoline extraction plant, not shown. After extraction of the gasoline content, the stripped or dry gas may be circulated back through the above disclosed stripper tower I5 through lines not shown, may be utilized in the manufacture of carbon black, or may serve as fuel. q

In case dry gas is produced from an adjacent well, the diagrammatic plan of the operation is` well illustrated in ithe accompanying gure.

The traps, such as I, 2 and 3 remove relatively small quantities of wet gas from the oil produced from low gas-oil ratio wells. This wet gas passes directly by way of gathering lines to a gasolineextraction plant, not shown. Separator 4 illustrates a trap or separator in which relatively dry gas is separated from crude oil produced from a high gas-oil ratio well or wells. The dry gas leaves this trap through line 28, passes through line 2| and enters the lower portion of stripper I5. In this operation, valve 28 is closed to prevent escape of dry gas from trap 4 into wetgas line I9. The pressure of the stripper system is controlled by controller 24; when pressure in line 2li-2| exceeds a certain value, controller. 24 opens allowing the excess gastoivescapeihrgh line 21 into line 25. When stripper tower is in operation, it is obvious that valve 3I in the crude oil line should be closed.

In this operation, the gas, after absorbing low boiling hydrocarbons from the oil in stripper I5, emerges from said stripper passing through line 22-23 to a gasoline extraction plant, not shown, or to other uses or storage. In case the crude oil from the high ratio gas-oil weils becomes well denuded of its light ends on giving oi the large volume of gas in trap 4, this oil may bypass the stripper tower I5 by the proper manipulation of valves 29 and 30 and pass directly to storage I8 through line 26.

In practicing my invention at least three operating variables or conditions are controlled` in an effort to increase the eiciency of the removal ofthe relatively low boiling hydrocarbons from the crude oils. These three variables are pressure, temperature and concentration. By operating the low gas-oil ratio separators I, 2 and 3 at low pressures, the yield of wet gas evolved and separated therein isA materially increased. This wet gas ordinarily passes directly to a gasoline extraction plant. The relatively dry gas evolved in trap 4, which represents one or more high gas-oil ratio separators may be economically too lean in condensable hydrocarbons to be processed directly in an extraction plant. I have found that this dry gas can be used as a stripping means to remove additional condensables from the crude oil from the low gas-oil ratio traps as I, 2 and 3, in stripping tower I5. This stripping tower is operated at a relatively low pressure to -permit more nearly complete extraction of the desired hydrocarbons.

During the warmer months of the year, the oil may acquire suicient heat from long crude oil gathering lines tcnassistin the separation and stripping of the light ends therefrom. At -other times, however, it may be advisable to supply artificial heat to the oil, as in exchanger 32.

The concentration factor is at least partially controlled by the relative amount of dry gas passed through the stripping tower I5. The concentration factor referred to herein is intended to mean the concentration of the condensable hydrocarbons in the dry extraction gas. From partial pressure considerations, it is obvious to one skilled in the art, that the lower the partial pressure of the condensable constituents in the gas in relation to their partial pressure from the crude oil, the more nearly complete will be their extraction from the crude oil by the stripper gas. With a given amount of crude oil, the less stripper gas contacted with said oil, the less complete will be the removal of condensable hydrocarbonsftherefrom, and conversely to increase removal of said condensable hydrocarbons from the crude oil the ilow of stripping gas should be increased. Upon increase in the amount of stripping gas used, the concentration of condensable hydrocarbons therein will be decreased, but the total amount of said condensables transferred from the crude oil to the stripper gas will be increased.

While one modification of my process has been illustrated and described, lit will be obvious to those skilled in the art that operating conditilns such as temperature, pressure, volume. of

, dry gas used as stripping agent, and other variables such 4as piping hookup, etc., may be varied within Wide limits and yet remain within the intended scope of my invention. v

What I claim is:

In a process for recovering volatile condensable hydrocarbons from the liquids produced from oil wells producing fluids having relatively low gas-oil ratios and from 'the gas produced' from oil wells producing uids having relatively high gas-oil ratios, the steps comprising separating a liquid component and a gaseous component from the uids produced at low. gas-oil ratios, said gas `being' a wet gas containing a relatively high percentage of condensable hydrocarbons, separating a liquid component and a gaseous component from the fluid produced at liquid component.

HAROLD R. LEGATSKI. 

